Plans September - December

I plan - like anyone does - and I hope that my plans work out.  But if I don't plan, I feel as though I have nowhere to go with my art.  And seeing the Home Festival was last weekend - and was a great success - I can work on the plans I have on for the rest of this year now.

For the last few months, I've been purchasing cheap - but nice - photo frames to make a family portraiture in my stair well.  It'll be of immediate family and pets; and so it'll take up the whole wall and consist of around 40 photographs.  Once I get the photos off the hard drive of my old computer from this year, I'll have something solid to work with and know exactly how many I'll need.  But right now, I'm looking for a retro-80's photo collage frame - one that holds a large number of smaller photos.  I hope Mum hasn't thrown hers out (I remember we had one once) and I'd be able to use it.

I also have some paintings I need to catch up on.  There's my self-portrait I need to finish the background of.  It's looking good and ought to be completed this weekend hopefully.
After that, I'm hoping to begin working on a new set of tiny paintings.  They are going to be tiny paintings of big things.  For example:  a tiny painting of the front grill of a Mac Truck... or a sky scraper of Brisbane reaching to the sky, or the Great Barrier Reef.  All on tiny, small canvas'.  So, I'll be needing to cut down some of my older brushes and getting one or two new detailing ones.  I do have photos of buildings of Brisbane... now to get them printed up at K-Mart - that won't cost much.  I'll get them done at the same time at the family photos.  I'm no in any hurry.  I'm hoping to get about 10 of these done by the end of next year and do them under a magnifying glass (I'll borrow one off my brother; as he has a few my Grandpa used to own in his older years).

Otherwise, I'm finishing up the larger blue blanket for friends who are having a baby and I'm hoping they'll like it.  So far, I've knitted up 3 little hats, 1 new-born hat, a green scarf, a red blanket and now this blue blanket... not bad for 5 months' work. 

So, what are you working on that has kept you busying this year - and will keep you busy for a while (like me?).  Until my next post, keep creating! 

The Home Festival

What a day it was yesterday!  I was up by 7am and out the door by 9:30am.  All my gear fitted in my bag and my little blue trolley.  The day was nice, clear and fine - just as we had hoped it would be.  And it wasn't a scorching hot day either.  

The Art Installation was called 'The Pop-Up Museum' (I didn't know it was called that until yesterday afternoon) and it attracted a lot of attention from the public. People were reading my book and enjoying the pages in the trees as well as the other artist's collections.  It turned out to be a great hang-out spot for a lot of people.  And as the day wore on, and the sun moved, there was plenty of shade thrown by our tree and it was used by the performance poets and community choirs.  People enjoyed the shade and basked in the sun as well; lazing about under the tree with the extra plastic leaves, reading my pink/red leaves and the larger ones of green that Doug Cartwright had put up.  

Too soon, though, it had all had to come down.  We were all tired from the day, eating and laughing.  I had gone to the jumble sale and bought myself plenty of goodies to add to my various collections and scored myself a first edition of an American poet from 1968 - which stunned my fellow collectors - for only $2.  My brother, his fiance and my niece were there to see the installation; only to unfortunately take off and not able to see the rest of the festival.  Oh well, there's always next year's.  I hope you enjoy the photos below I've put together.

The Home Festival 2012 

Jumble Sale Scores 

Christmas Presents

Yep, you guys read right.  I'm beginning my hand-made presents now.  You see, from now until Christmas, the months seem to zoom by and I find that it's a lot easier to get in and begin my Christmas presents bought and paid for now than at any other time - plus I can sit back in December and have nothing to worry about except the grocery shopping.

This month, I've begun a set of dolly pegs for my brother and his fiance.  They're going well so far.  And I'm also knitting up a storm for a married couple I know who are having a baby in December - but their baby shower is next month - and so I must get their bits finished soon.

I'm hoping to get my niece an easel for her art works this year for Christmas to use from IKEA.  I bought one from there and I hope I can get another just like it so she can paint outside, inside or wherever she wants.

I'm not sure what to get Mum and Dad for Christmas... well, not yet anyway.  But the family gift is the family album on the wall of my home.  It's been fun to do and I hope it works.  I'll keep you all informed in how it turns out in the end - which will be closer to Christmas.  Well, until my next post, keep creating.